rant ...

John Howard: megalomaniac

John Howard disgusts me. That's a strong statement but almost every time I hear him speak, that's usually my reaction. I don't mean it in a light-hearted sense either: he disgusts me as comprehensively as anyone could. He says and does things which strike me as reprehensible. Today, in announcing that he'd like to dismantle the power of the Senate to block some of his more outrageous proposals, he said this about Australia:

"We no longer are mesmerised by the self-appointed cultural dieticians who tell us that, in some way, they know better what an Australian ought to be than all of us who know what an Australian has always been, and always will be."

That's a statement lacking in hope if ever I heard one.

When Australia began to turn away from racism, whether it be recognising the rights of our aboriginal people or by encouraging multiculturalism, we stepped forward as a nation. When we began to encourage equal recognition for both sexes, we stepped forward. When we began the discussions of whether we should be a republic, we stepped forward.

When John Howard had the opportunity to say sorry to the aboriginal people, he shied away from it. When he was given the opportunity to clearly denounce racism, either by responding to Pauline Hanson or Fred Nile (and his concerns over traditional muslim dress possibly concealing weapons), he shied away from it. When he had the opportunity to introduce paid maternity leave in his latest budget, he shied away from it. When he had the opportunity to help our country stand on its own two feet as a truly independent nation, he shied away from it.

Instead we get him attacking the concept of free higher education, we get him attacking the safety net provisions of our health system, we get him attacking the integrity of our national broadcaster and now, just because there's nothing else left, he decides to attack the very foundation of our system of government.

I can't think of one positive thing he has done to improve the social fabric of our country and I find that genuinely distressing. I think of Australia as a place where we believe in honesty, justice and a fair go for all (a cliche I hope we cling to for years to come) and I can't think of anything he's done to promote that. Maybe he spoke about it in a speech once but what has he actually done?

Liberals like to say that John makes the tough decisions. Yes, he does, but that doesn't mean those are the right decisions for our country. Deciding to invade Iraq was probably a tough decision but was invading a country without UN approval and without concrete evidence of the need for it the right decision? Will it make Australia less or more susceptible to terrorism?

These are indeed frightening times in Australia and our PM can take most of the credit for that. Posted by david at June 8, 2003 5:01 PM